Professional Certification: Key Figures to Understand the System
Professional certification enables the recognition of expertise, a profession, or a set of skills by all stakeholders across the economic ecosystem.
The national registers bring together several tens of thousands of certifications, both active and inactive, illustrating the scale of the ecosystem to be regulated. The French National Register of Professional Certifications (RNCP) alone lists more than 22,000 certification records, highlighting the breadth of the perimeter that France Competences must oversee and monitor.
This density is also reflected in the volume of applications reviewed. In 2024, the Commission for Professional Certification examined 2,129 registration applications across all registers, confirming a sustained annual volume of submissions despite a gradual tightening of requirements. Decision outcomes reveal differentiated selectivity depending on the register.
In 2024, 66.8% of RNCP applications reviewed resulted in a favorable decision. For the Specific Register (RS), nearly 39.3% of applications were approved in 2024, compared with 17.6% in 2023.
It is against this backdrop that the regulatory framework was strengthened in 2025, through a decree aimed at more strictly regulating the role of certifying bodies and introducing stronger legal sanctions to reinforce accountability across all stakeholders.
What the July 2025 Decree Changed in the Certification Landscape
The decree published in summer 2025 does not fundamentally alter the existence or objectives of the registers. However, it enshrines in law a set of specific obligations and sanctions that now apply to all certifying bodies. Where certain expectations were previously expressed through doctrine or assessment practices, they are now explicitly defined in regulation and subject to sanctions.
The decree establishes a clear principle: the registration of a certification entails ongoing accountability on the part of the certifying body, which is now exposed to tangible legal consequences in the event of non-compliance. It therefore tightens the conditions for registration and renewal, explicitly linking the initial decision to the certifying body’s ability to demonstrate, over time, the continued compliance of its certification framework (Articles R. 6113-16-7 to R. 6113-16-13 of the French Labour Code).
The text clearly identifies several categories of breaches that may justify intervention by France Competences, including the absence of effective implementation of the described framework, non-compliance of assessment methods, failures in the management of authorized partners, or the submission of inaccurate or misleading declarations, including at the time of application.
By structuring breaches, sanctions and control mechanisms in this way, the decree requires certifying bodies to view registration as a long-term commitment rather than a one-off validation.
A New Vademecum to Formalize These Transformations
Three years after the previous version, the highly anticipated 2026 Vademecum, incorporating all new elements arising from the decree, has just been released.
Key developments include:
- The introduction of practical guidance sheets made available to current and prospective certifying bodies. There are 36 in total, each covering a specific stage in the full lifecycle of a certification.
- The integration of provisions related to the Specific Register (RS), which was not covered by previous Vademecums. The rules governing registration in this skills-based register have therefore been clarified.
- A modest increase in length compared with the 2023 version, enabling France Competences to provide a more operational level of detail, drawing on extensive feedback gathered since 2018.
Two New KYU Support Offerings in Response to the Decree
Since 2018, KYU has supported certifying bodies at every stage of their projects:
- Opportunity and feasibility studies
- Certification engineering support
- Assistance with the application and submission process (online procedure)
In response to the growing number of obligations and the heightened importance of quality and compliance, we have recently developed two new tools to help certifying bodies position themselves:
A comprehensive diagnostic tool enabling certifying bodies to obtain a tailored action plan to comply with the new France Competences requirements across three key areas:
- Certification engineering and renewal
- Candidate monitoring and pathways
- Quality assurance and compliance
A customizable business model designed to anticipate both external costs and the full-time equivalent (FTE) resources required to implement a new certification
